Blog

When, where and how is the best way to teach kids about money management? They know how to spend it. That's not the problem. In fact from the earliest years, through internet and television advertising, kids are taught how to spend. We are now living through the effects of immediate gratification brought on over the past 20 years. Remember your father saying "money doesn't grow on trees". Well, for the longest time it did. Credit was plentiful and cheap.

We teach our children at an early age how to read and write. Isn't it just as logical we teach them how to manage money? This by no means is instinctual.

"We need to figure out how to do this the right way," says Lewis Mandell, a professor at the University of Washington who after 15 years of studying financial-literacy programs has come to the conclusion that current methods don't work. A growing number of researchers and educators agree that a more radical approach is needed. They advocate starting financial education a lot earlier than high school, putting real money and spending decisions into kids' hands and talking openly about the emotions and social influences tied to how we spend.

"Practically everything we do as parents is motivated by a desire to see our children be happy. The good news is that there is much you can do to encourage them to discover true happiness for themselves. Every day, in each moment, you can offer essential encouragement through your loving presence, your own example and your steadfast support. As you encourage your children to be happy, you may notice that something else happens, which is that you become happier too." — Dr. Robert Holden